The afc/pnc agents continue their quest to drag Guyana down by keeping these hazards around Georgetown so they can have ammunition for their claims of a garbage city. In fact afc/pnc agent Hammie Green purposely neglect his duty and steal the citizens of Georgetown money instead of spending it on cleaning up the city. These buildings should be pulled down but the afc/pnc want to keep them around as a reminder of the PNC days of ruin and neglect.
Historical Kitty Market among 40 registered derelict structures …City Engineers Department doing nothing, says Fire Chief
Written by Leroy Smith Thursday, 06 June 2013 22:41 THE Guyana Fire Service is calling on the relevant authority, namely the City Engineers Department of the Georgetown Mayor and City Council, to get into action mode and activate the city bylaws which speak to derelict and other unsafe buildings being demolished.
Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle during a recent interview, Guyana’s Fire Chief, Marlon Gentle said that his department has been making many unsuccessful attempts to get the City Council to act in accordance with the city bylaws, to ensure that the city is rid of buildings which are considered unsafe for human habitation and a threat to human life and limb, and which are also fire hazards.
A city eye-sore at Lombard and Broad Streets
According to Gentle, the Fire Service, from 2007, embarked on no less than six operations to identify hazardous and derelict buildings within the city and its environs. He pointed out that during these operations, 32 buildings were identified and deemed to be hazardous because of their structural state of disrepair.
This structure on Lombard Street replaces a once derelict building destroyed by fire a few years ago. The present structure is still considered hazardous and needs to be removed
Included in the lot is the historical Kitty Market complex, which has a rich history, and which is also managed by the Georgetown Mayor and City Council. However City Hall has long being crying out it is too broke to renovate the building.
Many stallholders no longer do business at the market as they are afraid it might collapse, and when it rains the roof leaks.
The few who open up for business complain that just a few shoppers turn up to patronize them.
The buildings identified by the Fire Service also pose a serious threat to passersby, to neighbouring structures, and to the public at large.There was a case some while ago when a derelict building on D’Urban Street collapsed and killed a man passing on the street.
A clear case of a building that is dangerous to those who occupy it and pass by it, and also to buildings next to it. It’s to be found on Lombard Street
The Chronicle was told that in the latter part of April into May, the Fire Service embarked on another round of inspections which found that in addition to the 32 initially listed as dangerous, eight more were added to the list, all in the Lodge, Wortmanville areas.
The Fire Chief pointed out that these buildings and their locations were brought to the attention of the City Council, but there seems to be little or no action on the part of that agency.
AN EYE-SORE: The run-down historical Kitty Market complex sits as one of the most unsightly buildings in the city.
Of the initial 32 buildings identified by the Fire Service, only four have been remedied. Gentle stated that two of the buildings were destroyed by fire, and two others were demolished after they were taken over by new owners.
The two buildings destroyed by fire were located at Barrack and High Streets, Kingston, and at the corner of Lombard and Broad Streets.
Gentle told this publication that with the current rainy season, the problem has become more worrisome, because of the high winds and flooding which would bring down the dilapidated buildings more quickly.
Most of the unsafe houses are inhabited, sometimes over-crowded, and their collapse could be fatal for those living in them.
Another big worry for the Fire Service, according to Gentle, is the number of squatters who erect structures which are unsafe and not healthy for those living there.
Gentle pointed to a recent fire in Tiger Bay, where chains of structures were unsafe, and the wanton theft of electricity by those living there contributed to the origin of the fire.
